HOME / INSTITUTIONS / New Mexico History Museum
Telling New Mexico: Stories from Then and Now sweeps across more than 500 years of history—from the state’s earliest inhabitants to the residents of today. Stories are told through artifacts, videos, photographs, computer interacti...
New Mexico achieved statehood just two short years before the Great War broke out in Europe in 1914. Recruitment in the nascent state was aggressive, and New Mexicans stepped up to serve in large numbers. By the end of the first World War, New Mexico r...
This exhibition features 23 original graphic history art works by Santa Fe-based artist Turner Avery Mark-Jacobs. This display, ’The Massacre of Don Pedro Villasur,’ narrates the history of an ill-fated Spanish colonial military expedition ...
Reflecting current archaeological and historical perspectives, Palace Seen and Unseendraws from historic documents, photog...
This exhibition features 23 original graphic history art works by Santa Fe-based artist Turner Avery Mark-Jacobs. This display, ’The Massacre of Don Pedro Villasur,’ narrates the history of an ill-fated Spanish colonial military expedition which set o...
Santa Fe, NM – New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) is thinking about its place in the lives of New Mexicans and wants to better understand the diverse experiences and views of e...
Santa Fe, NM – New Mexico History Museum presents the Smithsonian traveling exhibition Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and Wo...
Santa Fe, NM – Adelina (Nina) Otero-Warren’s incredible impact on history and contribution to the suffrage movement is being nationally recognized as she becomes ...
Santa Fe, NM – New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) is pleased to announce the Fray Angélico Chávez History Library and Palace of the Governors Photo Archives...
Santa Fe, NM – New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) is excited to share that Fray Angélico Chávez History Library (FACHL) has completed the work associated wi...
Santa Fe, NM – New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) and the Fray Angélico Chávez History Library (FACHL) are proud to announce that Marcy Botwick, a master’s candidate at University of New Mexico (UNM), has been s...
Santa Fe, NM — The New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) is pleased to announce the opening of Honoring Tradition and Innovation,...
Santa Fe, NM – On April 23, please join New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) and the New Mexico Japanese American Citizens League (NMJACL)...
Santa Fe, NM - The New Mexico History Museum is pleased to present Curative Powers: New Mexico’s Hot Springs, a pho...
SANTA FE – New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) has received a $172,564 award from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ American Rescue Plan to pursue research related to an upcoming exhibition on Miguel Trujill...
Since 2010, the New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) has been presenting talks about Fred Harvey history, which have grown into the annual Fred Harvey History Weekend and the Fred Harvey Foodie Dinner & Auction at La Fonda on...
Beginning in 2003, photographers Siegfried Halus and Greg Mac Gregor set out to document contemporary changes to the lands of the American West that Franciscan friars Atanasio Domínguez and Sil...
Filled with more than 400 years of antiquity and culture, the New Mexico History Museum (NMHM)...
The New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) is pleased to announce that t...
SANTA FE – If you have missed learning about the American West and the history of our state’s many cultures, then the New Mexico History Museum (NMHM) has some good news for you! The museum will reopen to the public on a sliding sched...
Parkhurst, T. Harmon (1883 – 1952)
Staab and Galisteo Buildings, West San Francisco Street at Galisteo Street, ca. 1933–34
Film Negative, 8 x 10
Palace of the Governors/Photo Archives, 51463
Logsdon, Paul (1939 – 1989)
New Mexico State Penitentiary, Looking Southeast, n.d.
Silver Gelatin Print, 8 x 10
Palace of the Governors/Photo Archives, 122343
Dingee, Tyler (1906 – 1961)
El Paseo Theatre, West San Francisco Street, 1959
Silver Gelatin Print, 5 x 7
Palace of the Governors/Photo Archives, 91900
On display in the Palace of the Governors, the Segesser Hides are a jewel of New Mexico’s museum collections and bear the first known depictions of Spanish colonial life in the United States. The hides illustrate an ambush in present-day Nebraska of a 1720 expedition led by the then-Lt. Governor of New Mexico. Painted on animal hide, likely bison, they are believed to have been created in New Mexico, where imported canvas was rare.
The hides found their way back to the Southwest—and eventually to the Palace—more than 200 years after Philipp von Segesser von Brunegg, a Jesuit priest, sent them to his family in Switzerland in 1758. It is believed that he acquired them in Sonora, Mexico, between 1732 and 1758, from the Anzas, a family that was prominent in military and civil affairs in both New Mexico and the Sonoran village where Father Segesser’s mission was situated.
Besides viewing them at the Palace, visitors can enjoy a computer-interactive exhibit in the History Museum that highlights various parts of the hides.
New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors. Photo by Blair Clark, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.
Map Le Nouveau Mexique et la Floride
France, 1656
photo by T. Harmon Parkhurst
Pueblo Indian Vendors, portal, Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1920?
Photo Archive, Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe
neg. # 069973
The Fashioning New Mexico includes a display of historic under garments and an interactive exhibit that invites visitors to practice tying a corset and check out the many layers of slips it took to wear a hoop skirt.
Photograph by Blair Clark, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.
Santa Fe Fiesta wear and Mariachi costumes in the Fashioning New Mexico exhibit.
Photograph by Blair Clark, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.
Luxurious opera gowns, including a costume on loan from the Santa Fe Opera (far left), in the Fashioning New Mexico exhibit.
Photograph by Blair Clark, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.
Celebrate Dad’s special day the Cowboys Real and Imagined way. Bring him to the New Mexico History Museum on Sunday, June 16, from 1—3 pm, for these special events: Meet the Royal Court of Rodeo de Santa Fe in the first-floor lobby. The queen and princess will sign autographs and offer information about the 64th […]
Even pressmen take a holiday. The Palace Press will be closed June 14--19. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope you'll enjoy the rest of the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors in the meantime.
Author, painter, and raconteur Max Evans is joined by Jim Harris, director of the Lea County Museum, to talk about his storied career, including the making of movies from his works, at 6 pm on Friday, May 17. After jawin’ about the cowboy life, the two will introduce a special showing of The Hi-Lo Country […]
Join Anna Cabrera at noon on Wednesday, May 15, for “Becoming St. Kate: St. Catherine Indian School and St. Katharine Drexel,” part of the Brainpower & Brownbags Lecture Series. Cabrera is a doctoral student in anthropology at the University of New Mexico. The lectures are free and are held in the Meem Community Room; enter […]
Enjoy a lively presentation by Emmy Award-winning costume designer and historian Cathy Smith, "I See By Your Outfit: Historic Cowboy Clothing," at 2 pm on Sunday, May 5, in the History Museum Auditorium. Smith's presentation is part of the exhibit, Cowboys Real and Imagined. Free with admission (Sundays free to NM residents). Smith has presented […]
Check out the handmade creations of people devoted to the beauty of books at the Santa Fe Book Arts Group's "Celebration of the Book" Thursday, May 2, through Saturday, May 4, 10am to 4 pm, in the History Museum's Meem Community Room. Approximately 100 one-of-a-kind books will be on display, including rubber-band books, popup cards, […]
As part of the exhibit, Cowboys Real and Imagined, we'll feature a series of free showings of classic cowboy movies. At 6 pm on Friday, April 26, enjoy two Tom Mix flicks, Ranch Life in the Great Southwest (1910) and the short Local Color (1915), introduced by journalist and film critic Jon Bowman. A free […]
Ever wonder why there’s an obelisk in the middle of the Santa Fe Plaza? Have you noticed the gargoyles on top of the Catron Building? Where was the gambling hall? Which tucked-away building held a Manhattan Project secret?Find out by taking a Downtown Walking Tour led by New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors guides. […]
Join Albuquerque writer and historian Lucinda Sachs at noon on Wednesday, April 17, for “Clyde Tingley’s New Deal for New Mexico,” part of the Brainpower & Brownbags Lecture Series. Sachs, an Albuquerque writer and historian, is finishing a 2013 Sunstone Press book about Tingley. She has also written a novel, Believe in the Wind, plus […]
Ever wonder why there’s an obelisk in the middle of the Santa Fe Plaza? Have you noticed the gargoyles on top of the Catron Building? Where was the gambling hall? Which tucked-away building held a Manhattan Project secret? Find out by taking a Downtown Walking Tour led by New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors […]
Join us for a special day of music, refreshments, and family activities at the grand opening of Cowboys Real and Imagined on Sunday, April 14. At 2 pm, guest curator B. Byron Price, director of the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West at the University of Oklahoma and […]
When America needed hard workers, the cowboy was there. The job was dirty and difficult, low-paid and lowly regarded. But when an America torn by the Civil War needed a hero to unite its soul, the unassuming cowboy was an unlikely—and ultimately lasting—pick.Since riding out of Spanish horse culture, he’s been an itinerant hired hand, […]
Copyright Statement | Inspection of Public Records | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use
Copyright © 2009 – 2023 New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.